01x01 - Cheese Rolling

[bunniefuu]

Khachaturian's "Adagio of

Spartacus and Phrygia" playing.

Traditions are a form of magic.

Because traditions

are a way of talking to the past.

Of speaking to our ancestors

in a language that they created.

When you participate in a tradition,

you are casting a spell

that lets you talk

directly to a bygone era.

Nowhere is? This enchanted

connection stronger

than in the farmlands of England.

And in this bastion of agriculture,

there is no tradition more powerful

than cheese

rolling.

It's a heavy cheese

coming at 80 miles an hour.

There's a chance it could knock the fence.

You are all stood there at your own risk.

All medical staff

need to go behind that fence.

What I am saying to

all adults with children,

if the cheese does come over here,

protect those kids.

For centuries,

deep in the English countryside,

the good people of Brockworth have gathered

to watch an ancient ceremony.

A race down a hill,

chasing a wheel

of Double Gloucester cheese.

The race is over 100 meters long.

The hill is steeper than 45 degrees.

This is no ordinary race.

It is the most dangerous

foot race in the world.

And this is no ordinary hill.

This

is Cooper's Hill.

One to be ready,

two to be steady,

three for cheese, four to go!

Every year,

the cheese roll attracts

a certain type of athlete.

We get called crazy.

We get called unique.

Which is great, fantastic.

I think the villagers love it.

And it's traditional. It's very old.

And not many things? In this world

is kept by communities? That is very old.

The competitors are not

trying to catch the cheese,

which, since it thunders down the

hill at over 80 miles per hour

is probably smart.

Instead, the winner is the first person

over the line at the bottom of the hill.

They are crowned the

"Champion Cheese-Chaser"

and given the glory

of holding the eight-pound cheese aloft

in the signature winner's pose.

It's so wacky, so unique.

People just want to have a go.

They just want to say they've done it.

Why do you take part?

'Cause I'm mad. That's why.

But the race is not without controversy.

A constant parade of injuries has

transformed this ancient tradition

into a completely unsanctioned event.

People say it's unofficial. It's not.

It's official.

Because it definitely goes on

every year exactly how it did ten,

fifteen years ago.

Unfortunately, with this event,

there is no organizer that's forthcoming,

as such, it is very difficult to put

those safety precautions in place.

You can cancel it officially,

but it will always go on like this.

As a vegan, I wouldn't put my life at risk

to chase a cheese.

I'm not saying everybody's positive for it.

However, it doesn't matter.

They won't make it stop.

It's not because we're

rebels. We were called rebels.

But isn't that nice to be a bit

of a rebel, but a nice rebel?

I'll take "rebel."

Roll on, you beautiful rebels.

And give it your all for the cheese.

For the cheese!

The common cheese-chaser takes many forms.

But the champion cheese-chaser,

like the Double Gloucester she pursues,

is local

complex

and not fully mature.

I'm Florence Early, and I'm a

three-times cheese-rolling champ.

When you have a landscape

like this, it's like a playground.

We save it all for the

kids, and it's such a shame.

We unlearn how to have fun.

The hill is just another

Another landscape to tackle.

And I I'm into that.

And when you see that hill I mean,

if you're the type of person who likes

that kinda thing, you can't

not want to run down it.

Wrapping the cheese is

considered a great honor

There we go. Yeah.

bestowed upon the elders of Brockworth,

before they watch the village youth

plummet to almost certain agony.

- Hold this side.

- This is Flo.

- I'll roll it.

- Flo won the race last year.

- Did you?

- Yeah!

- She's gonna do it again this year.

- God bless you. Good luck.

Thank you very much.? I think I'll need it.

I'm a little bit competitive.

Quite like a race. Just a little bit.

If someone starts sprinting,

I'm going to try and join in.

That looks? Like a proper

cheese-rolling cheese.

And you have to hold it above your head.

Well, I never saw anything

that any of the boys could do

as being something that I couldn't do, too.

So, I grew up believing

I couldn't get hurt.

Everyone who came to school with a cast on,

I thought that was the

coolest thing that anyone had.

And I really wanted one, so I

used to always go and jump higher,

stumble down things faster.

Whatever anyone else did,

I wanted to go a bit further.

In my mind, I thought,

if I broke something,

then I finally get my cast.

It never happened.

In her quest for a cast,

Florence Early has run

Cooper's Hill on three occasions

stretching over a decade.

She has never lost.

Oh, my God!

I first ran it when I was 17 in 2008.

My brother, he came second, and I had

I had that? To beat.

And the second time, I had been at a party.

We hadn't slept yet.

We'd been up all night.

All the women were all lined up, preparing.

I just jumped over at

the very last seconds.

That was not thought through

at all, but it was it worked out.

I love it. I really love it. It's fun.

You're not afraid?

No, not really.

I'm too short to be afraid.

And too young.

Last year, I was in the

middle of a year of sobriety,

but it turned out, being

sober did not help me.

The feeling would be like if

somebody took you from the waist

and dump tackled you down.

And then did it again.

And then again before

you've caught your breath.

And it's that feeling.

Your whole body's off the

ground and you're coming down.

That's a normal shoulder. It's smooth.

And this this is the

the bone that's yeah.

I thought my shoulder was just dislocated,

and I thought they'd shove it back in.

It turned out it wasn't my shoulder,

it was my collarbone.

The reality of that is that they

It can't be fixed. And it's still

It's still dislocated. And it

will be for the rest of my life.

I've definitely developed an awareness

of the fact that I am destructible

and I can get hurt.

And, I don't want that anymore.

I've gotta be more careful.

I'm hoping Flo is slightly more flexible

when she goes down there this year.

I don't really want her to have to

go through what she went through last year.

Because she did tumble.

And very quick.

However, when I saw

When I seen her runnin' down it,

she made me proud to be a woman.

No woman has ever won

the race more than three times.

If Flo wins this year,

she will become the most successful

female cheese-chaser in history.

But if she wants to

make it down in one piece,

she's going to have to

call on a higher power.

Somewhere out there,

a shadowy figure looms

over the hill that made him.

More myth than man.

More man than manchego.

This champion of champions is the

only one who can answer that call.

Usain Bolt is known? For being

the fastest human? To run the 100 meters.

Not quite.

Chris Anderson ran

I think it's slightly over 100 meters.

And I think it's 8.2, his record is.

I think you'll find that's

faster than Bolt's 100 meters.

Christopher Anderson is a former soldier

and a Brockworth legend.

He holds the men's world record

and is the undisputed

king of Cooper's Hill.

He's a legend. And he's a machine.

The way he falls and then

pops back up. It's amazing.

Chris is exactly what I need.

I will take any any

advice he has for me.

There she is.

If I was you, I'd be starting

here. Straight for the gate.

Right. Yeah.

These channels, where the

rain's going, you wanna avoid it.

- Yeah. Use these steps, aren't they?

- Just use these.

So

You'll probably fall? Around here.

- Yeah.

- Because See?

- There you go.

- There. Right on cue.

If you win that race, on the

day, you're the king of the hill.

The first time, Christopher

had come second

and ever since, he's won it.

He's got his own technique,

and he just knows every line on the hill.

When you're coming down, if you do fall

kinda like When you fall, just

you roll into it.

Then, once you've rolled,

once you go over your butt

- Yeah. Spring.

- spring onto your feet.

There is only one women's race each year,

but there are three men's races,

because, as all Brockites know,

men are three times stupider than women.

I don't want to do it.

Just pick a spot.

Each year, Chris runs every race,

winning a world record of 22 cheeses

which is a ridiculous number of cheeses.

The women's world record?

Three.

Christopher wins it

three times in the year.

But with ladies, you get one race a year.

For a lady to win more than three races,

it would be astronomical.

Flo Early's got three at the moment,

and she's entering again this year.

And if she gets the fourth win,

she'll have the title as king of the hill

for ladies, queen of the hill.

- Yeah. That's 'cause you

- That one The second one hurt.

It feels like the achievement

will be not hurting myself.

If I can get down without

breaking something,

then I'll be happy.

- Maybe.

- I might need a break for my shoulder.

- Don't wanna hurt yourself before.

- Things are hurting.

But Chris won't be running this year.

The universe, and his wife,

have other plans for him.

For Christopher to have

won the world record last year,

it was like,

"I've done what I wanted."

And then his wife said,

"Well, we've booked a holiday

for next year, because, as a

family, we've never been away."

They booked it up, Chris paid the deposit,

and then realized it was on

the weekend of the cheese roll.

I was tricked.

- Tricked

- Tricked into it.

We got offered a holiday.

I didn't know the dates.

I reckon, hundred percent, that Sophie knew

right from the word

"go" what she was doing.

I think he's gutted. He'd

rather be here running.

With Chris not competing,

the weight of the Anderson family tradition

has fallen on different shoulders.

They were making a big

deal about Chris not doing it,

and I was there, like,

"Chris isn't doing it, but I'm

still here to represent that name."

Kacie Anderson is

17 and is Chris's niece.

And while this is her first

year chasing the cheese,

Kacie is no stranger to Cooper's Hill.

There's three uphill races.

I've run it four times and won three.

I think she's got the record for

the amount of uphill races won.

So, for her to go on to

the downhill race now,

I've got nothing but admiration for her.

When you get to that bit

- Which bit?

- At the path.

- Yeah.

- Yes?

What do you want me doing?

Am I coming off of it, or?

Stay to the This side of the path.

Looking down at the hill

when I was running it, I was like,

"I could never run down this, at all."

Watching the footage back

from last year, I was watching Flo,

and she was literally

just flying and bouncing.

And then I looked around, and

everyone else was bum-shuffling.

I assure you, that's not gonna be me.

Flo was 17 when she first won.

It's almost an inspiration and,

like, a boost to do something.

I'd go out there for the

fun and for the enjoyment,

but I'd also go out there to

try my best and see if I can win.

And, as silly as that sounds,

if Chris can do it, I

don't see why I can't.

Where does this fine tradition come from?

The origins of the cheese roll are

known? Only through oral history.

A story passed lovingly? From generation

to generation.

My name's Jem Wakeman.

I'm master of ceremonies of

the Gloucestershire cheese roll.

One of those things, you

can't find a great deal about it.

I heard that there was evidence of

something talking about it in 1826.

Some say 1700s, some say 16.

Two to 300 years old.

Centuries.

Thousands of years. Thousands of years.

There's all sorts of stories.

So, from what I've read,

it was an old pagan ritual,

and they used to chuck

a cheese down the hill

to bring good luck to the harvest.

There is word that it's

in the Doomsday Book,

relating to a cheese and a hill.

However, we've never seen that.

The tradition of it, I'm

not one hundred percent.

It's something to do with

coopers, were barrel-makers.

They'd roll barrels down the hill,

and the barrel that

stayed together the longest,

he was the best barrel-maker.

It was called "Cooper's

Hill." Coopers make barrels,

so it's gotta come from that.

I don't know why How it

ever got changed to a cheese.

I I don't know. I don't know.

Make up the story you want.

It's disappeared into oblivion,

but it's something which has happened.

The people? Of Brockworth

are not historians.

True Brockites live in the moment.

And they will risk death

to keep their tradition alive.

You know I won't go and watch you.

I can't stand on the side.

You could at the bottom.

They have an area for picnics

where families and babies come.

And how do you feel

about her cheese-rolling?

Glad I haven't known that she was going

to do any of the ones she's done.

We can't stop her. But we

couldn't when she was 16 either.

Then, we didn't know she was

going to try on that occasion.

You just came home with a

cheese and your knickers full of mud.

Unfortunately, I do know about this

one and I feel uncomfortable about it.

In what way?

- Well, I'm worried about her.

- Why?

Well, because it's

- It's so dangerous.

- Yeah.

Last year, you broke your

shoulder. I think, you've been lucky.

I need to let go of the world I remember.

Because I can remember every single

You know, every single time I got winded.

Any sort of trauma,

when you repeat that,

when you go back there,

it kind of comes up.

This year, going back to

that hill got my heart racing,

and I'm definitely, sort of

getting the muscle memory.

"Actually, this hill scares me."

Well, I just need to

face it. Like it's the first time again.

It's the top bit I'm scared

for. I haven't practiced it.

- Makes me sick looking up it.

- I know.

People don't realize how

stupid it is until you get there.

We haven't had a lot of rain,

so the ground is solid. Therefore,

that cheese is gonna It will

probably hit its top speed today.

I could never have the

ba*ls to do what you're doing.

Fair play to you.

I'm surprised I do. Not gonna lie.

- It's gonna be a fast race?

- A fast one.

Oh. Jesus Christ.

Japanese!

- I'm so scared!

- Oh, you're gonna be fine!

We're a rugby team. We, um

- My goodness.

- It's just catching people

as they run down so

they don't hit the fence.

- And then

- Fast or? It goes fast?

Oh, they're very fast.

But not very fast after we get to them.

- I'm so f*cking

- Assuming I'll break my sternum.

I'm not cold, just scared!

- You're nervous!

- Yes!

- I don't even like cheese.

- You don't.

I don't!

What time is it? How long? Have you?

Five minutes to first race.

- Should we find a spot?

- Let's go.

Ladies and gentlemen,

we are moments away

from the first men's race!

Cheese! Cheese! Cheese!

Cheese! Cheese! Cheese! Cheese!

Spectators wonder what they'll see.

Are they gonna see a limb

this way? A hand like that?

Are they gonna? It's scary.

Because it's dangerous. Every sport.

You can get smacked in the

head by a cricket ball, can't you?

If you've never jumped out of a

plane with a parachute before,

it'd be like that.

But you haven't got a

parachute. You've got a steep hill.

And we get the broken legs

mainly ankles.

Collarbones are high

up on the breakage list.

Concussion. That's that's a good one.

The worst injury I've actually

ever seen in the nine years is an

Foot the other way around.

No one's ever broke a

back, neck or nothing.

It ain't got that bad.

There's always a first time.

You all right?

- I feel okay.

- That's lovely.

Ladies and gentlemen,

the ladies' race is about

to begin. The ladies' race.

Yeah! Come on!

I'm so scared.

Get yourselves lined up.

Hey! Get yourselves lined up.

They're moving in first, and then cameras.

- Cameras can go.

- Best of luck.

Best of luck to you.

Best of luck to you with this thing.

Are you ready?!

Yeah!

Brace yourselves.

Good luck, ladies.? Good luck.

One to be ready.

Two to be steady.

Three for the cheese!

Four to go!

So much of life is about

leaps into the unknown.

Tradition is a road map from

those who have leapt before.

But sometimes the road

you need isn't on any map.

Sometimes, you have to carve your own path.

I f*cking love you, Flo. Are you all right?

- Did I win?

- Yes!

Yay!

I'm so proud of you. What can I say?

- That was the last time.

- Scared?

- Never again.

- Look.

I f*cking love that girl.

I would like to introduce you

to our ladies champion, Flo.

Good one, Flo.

Are you ecstatic?

For some people,

tradition is a path to glory.

For others, it's peer

pressure from dead people.

All I can remember

I was just talking to myself.

I was like, "Oh, my God. I'm gonna die."

As soon as they said go

- Go on, Kacie!

- I just ran.

Obviously, having Chris telling me

what to do, it did help at the beginning.

Come on, Flo! Come on!

However, towards the middle,

there was no stopping that.

Keeping going, Kacie!

Go on, Kace!

Everything flashed before my eyes.

And I was just rolling.

I can't really remember much after rolling.

That was about it.

I would definitely, hundred

percent, do it again.

Flo has the title, but I'm gonna try

and get it. And try and top it off.

That's my aim.

Yay! It's over!

- I was so close to you!

- I saw you! I was like, "Oh, sh*t!"

I was just rolling. I couldn't stop.

I know. I've never had so many

people within my peripheral.

How's your ankle?

Don't know. They gave me an ice pack.

- It's not broken?

- They set me up.

I assume it's not broken.

Flo's foot was, indeed, broken.

And she finally got the cast she wanted.

- Are you gonna do it again?

- Not doing it again.

No, I'm done. I have

every I have every faith

that you're gonna be taking the next

I hope so

You've got the championship.

Even if it gets broke,

you'll go down in history.

An honor to participate in

something that's a tradition.

When I'm older and I can't run it anymore,

I'll go there and watch,

and I'll be watching these

teenage girls run down the hill.

You're just, like, "That was

me when I was younger."

I don't like cheese.

It's all for you.

It smells so bad.

This has been a really fun experience.

It wouldn't have

happened if I had said "no."

Disgusting.

Absolutely vile.

Now I think I should just

say "yes" to everything

and see what happens next.

At the heart of every tradition,

there is a lesson.

Something that our

ancestors wanted us to know.

Most seek to guide us away

from the dangers of the world,

for the world is a scary

and unpredictable place.

But some serve a different purpose.

A deeper purpose.

Those traditions remind us

that while we may be mortal

we cannot live in fear.

So, let us charge headlong

down all the insane hills,

knowing in our hearts that

one of them will be our undoing.

But not this one.

And not today.

For, right now, we are alive.

And we are the champions.